Car-door-operating mechanism.



PATENTBD MAY 15, 1906.

E. I. DODDS. OAR DOOR OPERATING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 29. 1905.

- To allwhont it may concern:

UNITED srATEs PATENT OFFICE.

. ETHAN I. Donne; or AVALON; PENNSYLVANIm- ASSIGNOR TO THE PULLMAN COMPANY, or CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A, eonroanrron OF ILLINOIS.

CAR-DOOH-OPEBATING MECHANISM. I

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 15, 1206.

Application filed May29,1905. Serial No. 262,823.

Be it known that I, ETHAN-I. Dorms, a citi- Zen-of the United States, residing at Avalon, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Car-Door-Operating Mechanism, of which the following is a specification. My invention relates to car-door mechanlsm, and particularly to such mechanism for opening and closing load-carrying fioordoors a car which are hinged atone sideof the door to 'oints in the car-underframe and are adapte to swingilown to discharge the load upon the door.

The object of my invention is to provide a mechanism for raising and lowering the floordoor of a car which can be easilyvand cheaply made, which is efiicient in operation, and not readily liable to get out of order, particularly in'the hands of unskilled workmen.

' u My invention broadly consists in the ap lication of a shaft or other rolling mern er adapted to bodily travel crosswise or laterally of the car up a slight incline toward the side of the car to raise and lower floor-doors pivoted toward the center of the car and adapted to swing down toward the side of the track on which the car runs to discharge the load uponthe floor-door at the side of the I track.

, ster, showing such crossbearer or bolster in elevation and the details of the application of my invention thereto. Y

.i The car shown in the drawing is one of a common type of metallic car having a central girder 10, running lengthwise ofthe car,

intersected or joined at intervals by crossbearers orlbolsters 1 1 extending from side to side of, the car. Rising from the outer ends of these cross-bearers are slde stakes 12, condoors 16, each Wide enough to fill the space between successive cross-bearers or crossbearer and bolster of the car and long enough to, as shown, ext-end to the side of the car.-

These doors are, as shown, adapted when in the full-line position of the figure to form substantially the largest art of the floor of the nected together by plates 13, forming the Pivoted at 14 and 15 on o )pocar and to carry the oad upon them. .The

doors are also adapted when swung down to the dotted-line position of the figure to allow the load upon each door to slide off from it at the side of the track. ism relates to the mechanical movement of these doors 16 from the dotted-line to fullline position and back to the dotted-line position of the figure, or vice versa.

I have'cut or stamped out of each cross- My improved Inechanbearer and bolster a slotted opening 20, lower toward the center of the car than it is at the end toward the side of the car. In other words, the slot 20 declines iromthe' side toward the center of the car, as shown: I make these slots 20 in each of the cross-bear ers on one side of the central girder 10 of substantially the same size and have them in a straight line with each other along the car, so that a shaft mounted in these slots inthe cross-bearers or bolsters will always be parallel to the floor of the car when in the same end or other correspondin positions of each slot. Thisv will more in y ap car as the specification proceeds These s ots 20 have on their lower slanting sides gear-teeth 22, while the u per sides 23 are made plain inside, but su stantially parallel withthe tops of the gear-teeth 22. In each slot 20 I mount a pinion 24, having teeth 25 meshin with the teeth 22, heretofore described, an the pin-- ions are made of such a size that they will just'iit in between the sides22 and 23 of the slots with suflicientoclearance so that they may travel inside the slots along the racl teeth 22 from one end of the slots 20 to the other. Through the pinion 24 thus mounted in each slot 20 in each cross-bearer or bolster 11 Iplace a shaft 26, running either the .said shaft or shafts.

20, while rotating it in the opposite direction will cause it to travel from the lower to the upper end of the slot 20.

Rigidly secured to the shaft 26, adjacent to each cross-bearer and on opposite sides thereof, .l rigidly secure spiral cams 30, hearing against the under side of the floor-doors. The earn on each side of the cross-bearer or holster, as just described, beers upon a different floor-door. From this it ill be seen that there is cam 30 hearing 0] each edge of each floor-door 1'6. 1 prefer to so proportion these eanis 30 with referenceto the different distances from the pivots 14 at which the cams in different 7 under of the doors that the amount of power required to raise and lower the doors applied to the ends of the shaft 26 will be substantially a constant quantity in all positions of the shaft; but this proportion may be varied somewhat without departing from this feature of my in vention.

In the operation of the device, assuming that the doors are up or closed, as shown in the full lines of the figure, and that for this reason the shaft 26 is at the upper end of the slot 20 and the cam 30 is in the fullline position of the figure, the operator applies a wrench or other rotating means to the shaft 26 at the end of the and rotates the same to the right of the figure toward-the center of the car. This causes the pinions 24 to travel along the racks 22 until the parts assume the dotted-line position of the figure, with the shaft at the lower end of the slot 20. In thus traveling along the slots the shaft 26 has caused the cams 30 to also rotate to the dot ted position, thereby permitting the load upon the floor-doors ill to cause it to drop down to the dotted-line position shown.

' fectly positive.

positions bear against the.

When it is desired to close the doors after the dischargeof the load, the operator sim ly rotates the shaft 26 in'the direction inioated by the arrow in the dotted-line position of the figure, and thereby causes the pinions 24 to travel along the racks 22 to the original position with the doors closed. The upper flange or edge :23 of the slot 20 in each cross bearer holds the pinion in its slotduring this operation, thereby making the same per- The doors 16 when in lowered position rest against a stop 31 upon the under side of the cross-hearers or bolsters, thereby preventing the momentum of the descending doors injuring the operative mechanism when it reaches the extreme lower position, as shown.

I do not Wish to be understood as limiting myself to the exact details of construction, which may be varied within reasonable limits without departing from my invention.

This patent is intended to embrace only so much of the disclosure made herein as is covered by the claim.

Having thus described my invention, What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

In a car, in combination with an underframe having load-carrying car floor-doors pivotally mounted toward the center of the car and adapted to swing downwardly from theside of the car, to discharge the load at the side of thecar; a shaft extending lengthwise of the car-adapted to be bodily rolled crosswise of the car in inclined slots cut in the under-frame of the car, said lower toward the center of the car than at the side, racks upon the under sides of 'saidslots, pinions on said shaft adapted to travel in said racks and spiral canis rigidly secured to said shaft adapted to bear upon the under sides of said doors as said shaft is rotated to open and close the doors.

in Witness whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name in the presence of two witnesses.

slots being ETHAY l. DOIFDS.

Witnesses: I Dwrenr B. Cnnnvnn, CAROLYN HAFTERY. 

